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Top Takeaways is a series of recaps from important conversations, town halls, webinars and virtual events about early learning.

The new (an initiative of the聽) held a launch event Nov. 3. Members of its interdisciplinary spoke, as did Linda Darling-Hammond 鈥� emeritus professor at Stanford, founding president of the and president of the California State Board of Education. The event also featured local schools with Stanford connections, including the and .

Here are our top takeaways:

1. 鈥淭he new normal is instability and uncertainty,鈥� observed center director Philip Fisher, the , which he initiated in April 2020, informs his read on the present moment. Countering these inescapable factors, Fisher championed place-based solutions such as Too Small to Fail鈥檚 partnership with the LaundryCares Foundation .

The Einhorn Collaborative鈥檚 Ira Hillman mutual and reciprocal ways of 鈥渟eeing problems as something we solve together.鈥�

And, Kitty Lopez, executive director of , endorsed the model for screening for special needs and developmental delays.

2. 鈥淚t should not require luck for a low-income kid to have a shot,鈥� said emcee Eric Abrams, chief inclusion officer of Stanford鈥檚 Graduate School of Education. And yet longstanding inequities continue to fester.

To cite just one example, highlighted by Natalie Renew, executive director of : While home-based providers serve the most diverse families and proved themselves to be creative, capable and entrepreneurial through the pandemic, this type of care remains marginalized. Academic research into quality usually focuses on center-based care, leaving home-based providers out of the conversation. Furthermore, the RAPID survey says a third of home-based providers regularly go hungry.

Robin Hood鈥檚 Kelvin Chan, reinforced Renew鈥檚 point by noting that in New York City, early learning centers are disproportionately found in the wealthiest, whitest neighborhoods while home-based care predominates in the poorest, Blackest parts of the city.

3. 鈥淧ractice makes permanent, unless there鈥檚 a rich amount of feedback,鈥� said Dan Schwartz, quoting a kindergarten teacher he knows. Schwartz, dean of the Graduate School of Education, cited Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne鈥檚 concept of a explaining that the center aims to convene practitioners as well as professors. Fisher picked up on this theme when he said evidence should be a tool for learning how to educate better rather than 鈥減roof鈥� of educational theory.

鈥淪cience isn鈥檛 something we do in a laboratory,鈥� said Bruce McCandliss of the Stanford Graduate School of Education. 鈥淲e need a new way of doing science through community building with institutions, teachers, parents and schools.鈥�

4. Look beyond early learning settings, argued Stephanie Curenton, director of the at Boston University. Racism and classism, she said, permeate the housing, air quality and violence that surround children, and we need to address them if we are to have any hope of improving education.

This point was underscored by Lea Austin, executive director of the , University of California at Berkeley. Austin drew attention to the historical context provided by 鈥� Marcy Whitebook鈥檚 project probing the origins of inequities that persist into the 21st century鈥攁nd explained how this background underscores the urgency of antiracist policies and practices.

In her remarks, Darling-Hammond also endorsed recognizing 鈥渢he broader context of children鈥檚 lives,鈥� calling for multicultural education alongside 鈥渂asic civil and human rights鈥� as well as 鈥渞acially and economically integrated systems.鈥�

5. 鈥淟eaders are critical, but institutions build power,鈥� declared Miriam Calder贸n, chief policy officer at ZERO TO THREE. Calder贸n urged attendees not to lose sight of who is holding the power when decisions are made about policy and funding.

鈥淭here is expertise in communities,鈥� Fisher said during his remarks, encouraging participants to partner with the 鈥渢eam builders, toolmakers and wayfinders鈥� in their midst.

鈥淭ransformation has to be co-created and co-led with families,鈥� said Ryan Padrez of Stanford鈥檚 School of Medicine. 鈥淭he families least well served are the ones we have the most to learn from.鈥�

鈥淲e want scale, but it has to start at the community level,鈥� said Tumaini Coker of Seattle Children鈥檚 Hospital and the University of Washington medical school. She focused on well-child visits in her remarks. 鈥淗ow do we use that precious 15 minutes?鈥� she asked. Integrating community health workers into those encounters should be standard practice, she said, especially with Medicaid families.

6. 鈥淚t is no longer possible to follow the paths of previous generations,鈥� Joan Lombardi quoted Mary Catherine Bateson鈥檚 Composing a Life to make the point that we can learn from the past but must embrace the present 鈥渁ge of possibilities.鈥� In this spirit, she cited the seminal 2000 study , saying that health care, education and family services all contribute to a child鈥檚 well-being and argued that the silos between these types of work need to be broken down.

Lisa Chamberlain, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford, discussed integrating pediatrics into the early childhood system. 鈥淭ransdisciplinary work,鈥� she acknowledged, is difficult, but 鈥渢hat鈥檚 where the spark of innovation comes from.鈥�

Nat Kendall-Taylor, CEO of , gave an overview of the , which parallels the RAPID survey, monitoring 鈥渢he foundational mindsets that shape Americans鈥� thinking about our society.鈥� In particular, he identified a rise in demand for responsive government and a desire for greater unity, stipulating, 鈥淭hat means different things to different people.鈥� He called upon the center to go beyond designing new interventions and to take part in 鈥渋nfluencing the culture.鈥�

Fisher captured this sentiment when he declared, 鈥淚deas are what we need to scale.鈥�

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.